Regional Disparities in Slovakia

Abstract

The crucial point of every modernization is a will to undergo a change. In Slovakia this will of the population was seen to be quite weak very early after 1989. In this sense the distinctively pro-reform orientation of the majority of the leading political actors between 1990–1992 was not representative and has been meeting an increasing opposition. Since 1990 the economic reforms which had been introduced have become unacceptable for the majority of the Slovak population. So far it is only less than half of the population which is convinced that profound changes in the economy in 1988–1989 were needed. Many findings demonstrate a rather widespread frustration in the sphere of the living standard which has become an important factor of the “transformation distrust”. At the beginning of the year 1992 (a few months before the parliamentary elections of 1992) two thirds of the Czech citizens and only one third of the Slovak population had orientations hopeful from the viewpoint of the transformation.